COLLINGBOURNE DUCIS PARISH COUNCILMINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD AT COLLINGBOURNE SCHOOL ON THURSDAY 11 MAY 2017 AT 7.00 PM Present: Cllrs K Cockerton, R Haverson, L Gomes, T Greenwood, A Smith, P Knowlson, 6 members of the public, 2 potential Co-optees and Mr P Gill (Clerk),Apologies for absence: Mr D Paterson (Chair, Collingbourne Ducis Village Hall Trust, PC L Wileman (Wiltshire Constabulary), Mr G Hooper (Collingbournes, Chutes & Everleigh Link Scheme)1. Annual Report of the Parish Council. Cllr C Cockerton, Chair, presented the following report: This is the last duty of your council that is bowing out and that is the annual report for 2016-17. We leave the council in good financial position, more on that from The Clerk later.The year has seen the lighting of the school area at night to enable safe passage from the village hall. This was possible due to negation and co-operation of the school for which we are grateful. As you will be well aware the A338 through the village is being resurfacing and is not as disruptive as we thought it would be. This has happened due to pressure from your parish council and with full support of Wiltshire Councillor Charles Howard and the whole project costing neigh on half a million pounds. Whilst on the subject of our outgoing Wiltshire Councillor, Charles Howard the Parish Council was instrumental on getting a life time achievement award at the area awards. Charles is going to be a very hard act to follow. Without his support a lot of our achievements would not have happened. This year saw the tendering and awarding of the grass cutting and bin emptying contract. This was awarded to The Landscape Group with significant savings to the parish. The decision was all about money and we would like to thank Bawdens for the past three years of looking after our village. It is worth pointing out that we are lucky to live in an attractive place with a very enviable recreation ground but it all cost money, in fact one of our biggest expenditures to make it so. The 11th December saw the second Christmas big brunch. It appeared to be very successful with a big turnout and it was good to see attendees of all ages having a good time. Its whole purpose was to bring the community together without anything wanted in return other than having fun and socialising. A big thank you to all the sponsors in the village as well as those who volunteered to help, without them it would just not happen. It will be up to the new council to decide if they to do something similar this year. We have continued to award grants to groups and organisations that have requested financial assistance when their work is relevant and benefits the parish. In particular the sensory garden at the school and the link scheme. The full allocation in the budget for the year was spent but the new fiscal year sees the pot replenished so we are able to assist once again. Work still in progress is the lighting of the path through the burial ground. The metro count of the traffic through the village did not give the result that was expected. In fact, Collingbourne Kingston has worse problem with speeding than we do. This maybe an area were the two parishes could work together to alleviate the speeding blight. There have been some tricky planning issues over the past year and non more than the Station Yard appeal. Planning is a source of more animosity and general unpleasantness than any other. Before I finish I allow myself little bit of an indulgence by looking back over the four years of the outgoing council and list some of the improvements achieved during its time. A listening council that works to achieve what the community wants and not what it thinks the village should have. The pelican crossing, lining of the sewer pipes, the mega ship, safety barrier at the bottom of the footpath from Knapp Close, getting metro counts, resurfacing A338 as already mentioned Christmas brunch.Please remember you can keep up to date with what is going on in the village on the website www.Collingbourne-Ducis.com and on the council Facebook page.There were no questions from those present. However Cllr Greenwood thanked the Chairman for his excellent contribution in his time as Chairman which was echoed by all present.2. Summary of the Council’s financial performance for the year ended 31 March 2017.The Clerk presented the following summary: The Parish Council’s financial reserves for FY 16/17 at £24758 were £4776 higher than last year which was mainly due to the £4k budgeted for the highways and footpaths was not used. The total expenditure was £19883 against a budget of £27,615 mainly due the 4k already mentioned plus a serious of other lesser undespends. Income was £24,760 against a budget £24,114. Furthermore, reserves now stand at £24,758 against £19,882 for FY 16/17 of which £4K is earmarked for spending on a Village Entry Gates Project in FY 17/18. It is again the Parish Council's intention to consider formally setting reserves level at 50-100% of the Precept e.g. £10,225-£20,500 for FY 17/18 (£13 K in FY 16/17) to be reviewed annually at the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council taking into account any future projects. There were no questions from those present. 3. Head Teacher's Report from Collingbourne C E Primary School. Although the Clerk had sent the agenda to the School on 14 April and called the School on 9 May to reminder them of the meeting on report was received from the School. The Chairman found this disappointing given that the School is central to the well being of the village and given that the Parish Council had given a substantial grant to the School in FY 16/17. 4. Report from Wiltshire Cllr C Howard.Although Charles Howard has stood down as a Wilts Cllr he presented a report by email a digest of which follows: General County Matters. Council Tax – The increase this year in the Wiltshire Council element of the Council Tax that we all pay was 4.99%. Of this, 3% was an increase in the Social Care Levy and comes on top of an increase of 2% in the Social Care Levy in 2015/16. The cost of providing care, in particular adult social care in the community is a liability that continues to increase at a high rate; well above inflation and the Council has no option but to raise the necessary funding from council tax payer. The increase in Council Tax excluding the Social Care Levy is 1.99%. Part of the reason for this is that the Government’s Settlement Funding Allocation to Wiltshire Council in the coming year has been reduced from £86.7 million to £72.3 million, and further reductions are in the pipeline for the next three years until the Settlement Funding is reduced to nil. Against this, Business Rates are at present collected by the Government and then passed back to local authorities in the form of Settlement Funding. The Government is changing the system over the next three years so that local authorities are to be allowed to retain a proportion of the Business Rates that they collect. But, the Government will still be able to control the amount that Wiltshire receives back by allocating more funding to parts of the country with high levels of deprivation. Further information about this year’s budget can be viewed on the document Hot Wire dated 21st February which accompanies this report. In general, the past year has been one of steady progress for Wiltshire Council, and the report presented by the Leader of Wiltshire Council, Baroness Jane Scott, at the meeting of the Council on 21st February to approve the Budget gives a great deal of information. To read the speech, go to www.wiltshire.gov.uk/news/articles/2017-budget-speech . On a personal note, I continue as a member of three committees of Wiltshire Council. Over the past year I was chairman of the Eastern Area Planning Committee, a member of the Strategic Planning Committee and Chairman of the Wiltshire Pension Fund Investment Committee. I am also a Governor of The Wellington Academy.Local Matters. The past year has again been a busy one, with many local issues in which I have been involved. At last we have confirmation that the major repairs to the A338 through the village are to start in the first week of May. This will mark the end of a long campaign by me to get this work done, and although it will lead to much unavoidable disruption during the works, I am sure that it will lead to a substantial reduction in noise levels for those who live by that road.It has been a pleasure working with the Parish Council during the past year. The Election for members of Wiltshire Council for the next four years will be on 4th May, and I will not be standing for re-election. I have enjoyed being your Wiltshire Councillor for the past eight years, but feel that the time has come to stand down.The Chairman thanked Wilts Cllr Howard for the exemplary support he has provided to the Village during his time in office.5. Report from Wiltshire Constabulary.PCSO Downham presented the following report;Tidworth Police has seen some big changes in the last year, with new sergeants as well as new inspectors and later on in 2016 a different way of policing and changing from Neighbourhood Policing to Community Policing. PCSO Maria Downham continues to be your single point of contact as your local Police Community Support Officer and PC Lucy Wileman is Your Area Co-ordinator for CPT East. They were no issues reported over the year to warrant specific targeted patrols for the Collingbourne Ducis; however the rural area as a whole has had issues with various reports of hare coursing, thefts from cars and off road motorbikes on Salisbury Plain. The following actions have been taken within the rural area:Due to numerous reports of hare coursing over the rural area we set up a target patrol in October to patrol and deal with this issue 194 patrol/actions have been made between October and January including some arrests. We had several reports of cars being broken into whilst the owners have been walking their dogs on Salisbury Plain. We have had a community priority set up since 20th January this year to try and combat this problem and to date 169 patrols have been carried out at various beauty spots and dog walking areas across the Amesbury and Tidworth CPT areas. We strongly advise that if you do park your car and walk your dogs that you do not leave any valuables on display. At the end of March a new priority for Off-Road Motor Bikes/Vehicles across Salisbury Plain was set – Regular patrols are conducted by available sources are working closely with the Military and RMP. Fines and tickets have already been given to 3 persons. 58 actions/patrols have taken place since 24th March 2017 Op Essos saw 19 officers in 7 vehicles carry out speed checks and pro-active traffic work across the East CPT hub and Salisbury. Below are the sites visited and the results from Op ESSOS yesterdaySites visited; London Road – Marlborough A345 Oare Countess Road – Amesbury Parsons Green – Shrewton Littelton Pannell Churchill Ave – Bulford Boscombe Hill – Amesbury Kitchener Road – Amesbury Castle Road – Salisbury Southampton Road – Salisbury College Roundabout – SalisburyHigh Street – Pewsey Milton Lane – Pewsey Junction at The Crescent - PewseyEast GraftonCholderton Durrington Rowde Rushall Results; X 62 Words of advice for excess speed and manor of driving. X 10 Fixed Penalty NoticeX1 Vehicle Defect NoticesX1 Produce Documents Notice. Outside of the speed checks officers carried out active ANPR work across all areas of the East CPT hub and Salisbury. More importantly the op seems to have had a positive community impact as every vehicle had members of the public thank officers for taking the time to carry out the work within the community as they have all either had or raised concerns with speeding in their area. Please let us know if you have any concerns of speed anywhere in your area and we can pass this back to our special constables. Cllr Haverson raised some questions regarding manning levels which PSCSO Downham answered to the satisfaction of the meeting. The Chairman thanked PCSO Downham for her report and for the police support that is provided to the village. 6.Report from the Collingbournes Chute & Everleigh Link Scheme. Mr Hooper ChairmanCollingbournes, Chute and Everleigh LINK Scheme presented the following report by email:Our local Link Scheme has continued over the past year to serve the people of Collingbourne Ducis. We are here for people who need help to get out and about, to get to the doctor, the hospital, or to go shopping or to the hairdresser. We are all hearing much more these days about the problems of loneliness and a Link volunteer can help by dropping in for a chat. In these rural parts of Wiltshire, if there are people who are our neighbours that have problems getting about due to the lack of public transport, then your Link Scheme is here to help. The phone number is in the Courier every month (it is 01264 850807) and if you leave your details on the answering machine our Co-ordinator will get back to you within the day. We aim to help wherever and whenever we are asked, but please try to give us 48 hours notice so we can find the right volunteer for the job. I would like to thank the Parish Council for your help in providing your generous donation last year, which helps us to keep solvent. I hope we can rely on your assistance in future. Our finances are completely independent of Wiltshire Council, or anyone except our generous Parish Councils and the few other important donors. We are financially stable and hope to remain so. The Link Project is a great Wiltshire success. Other counties have somewhat similar schemes, but many are now trying to emulate Wiltshire’s Link Schemes, which have proved to be the most successful in the country. Last year the 44 Link Schemes across the county travelled more than 920,000 miles driving people to their appointments, and I believe this is a measure of the great community spirit existing in Wiltshire. It also meant Link volunteers gave almost 150,000 hours of their valuable time, which saved Wiltshire Council taxpayers and the NHS over £1.5M. Thank you for your support and help during the past year. We look forward to being of service for the remainder of this year and into the future. If you know of someone who could use a bit of friendly help from time to time, whether that is being driven to an appointment, or in some other way, please contact either me, any member of our Link Committee, or our Co-ordinator on 01264 850807. I look forward to being able to report to you again in 12 months time, on another year where Link has been able to support the people of Collingbourne Ducis.The Chairman thanked Mr Hooper for his report.7. Report and Statement of Accounts from Collingbourne Ducis Village Hall Trust. Councillor Terry Greenwood presented the report as the Chairman of the Village Hall management committee, Mr David Paterson was unable to attend.This has been a year of change at Collingbourne Ducis Village Hall. We have seen the departure of our longstanding Chair, Lindie Rogers and her ever supportive partner Karl. Both have served the Hall since planning in the 1970s, through construction in 1984 to its present successful state. We thank them and will miss them both tremendously, wishing them well in their new home in Dorset. I, David Paterson have taken over as Chair with a number of new Officers and Committee members. I am very grateful for their support and commitment to the Hall. I am happy to present to the Council our Annual Accounts for the last full year. As you will see, they remain very positive and healthy. Income has exceeded expenditure enabling us to undertake and begin to plan for the future. We are currently seeking to improve disabled access and car park marking. The roof has just had its regular inspection and maintenance, we are planning re-decoration, we are currently producing a new website which will include online availability and booking and we plan to improve our storage with a new extension to the side of the Hall. The major purpose of the Village Hall is to provide a community facility, available to a wide variety of organisations and groups. We currently have regular bookings with the School, Nursery, Toddlers, Yoga and Tai Chi. Sporting clubs include Table Tennis, Short Mat Bowls, Soccer and Cricket. We are really pleased with the success of “Filmplace,” providing regular “Movies’ to the Village. One of our current initiatives is our involvement with the Wiltshire Village Hall’s Association. We recently hosted a Forum on websites and advertising Village Halls. Our own website is currently being updated. We look forward to working closely with the new Council over the coming years. The balances as at 30 June 16 are as follows:8. Written Resolutions.There being no resolutions to consider the Chairman thanked the speakers and those in attendance and closed the meeting at 7.45.pm Signed….........................................A Smith Chairman Date......................